The Dowager Butterworth, Paula Deen, has allegedly taken an interesting tactic in defending herself …
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This week's People cover story focuses on Deen's attempt at a comeback. "I've learned a lot," is the quote on the cover, which is funny, because after you read this quote you'll wonder if she in fact learned anything at all:

I feel like "embattled" or "disgraced" will always follow my name. It's like that black football player who recently came out. He said, "I just want to be known as a football player. I don't want to be known as a gay football player." I know exactly what he's saying.

Oh man, so much here and it's all so unhealthy, it's as though each of these words has been chicken-fried by Paula Deen herself. Any sort of neutralizing effect that Deen's professed empathy with Michael Sam might have is destroyed by the implication that "embattled" and "disgraced" will also follow his name for being a gay black man. People who aren't bigoted don't see it that way. (Note: "Embattled" and "disgraced" generally precede Deen's name—see above.)

Really, that association could be a matter of bad word placement. Also word choice. "That black guy?" Learn his name or you're just the slightly less racist lady who still says "that black guy."

We got a racist lawsuit on our hands, y'all. According to Lisa Jackson, a former employee of…
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Elsewhere in the story, Deen says on the fallout of her scandal, "When I woke up each morning, it was like my world was crashing down again." Aw. "I think twice about a joke," she says, the poor thing. Can you even imagine, having to think about your words?